China Mobile Headquarters

Beijing / Leo A Daly

Leo A Daly has won the competition to design the second phase of the new 1.3-million-square-meter (14-million-square-foot) China Mobile headquarters in Beijing, working with local firm WDCE to propose three buildings within the larger 26-building complex. The design concept for two of the three buildings inverts the typical office-circulation core, wrapping research and development labs with perimeter staircases, the paths of which can be read graphically on the buildings’ exteriors thanks to large, diagonal windows that punch through the vertical fins of the brise-soleil. The third building, which will house public amenities, aims for Three Star Green Building standards (equivalent to LEED Platinum). The other two anticipate LEED-Gold-equivalent certification; all three buildings are thermally insulated with green roofs. According to Walter E. Geiger, AIA, design director of Leo A Daly’s Washington, D.C., office, one of the challenges has been the speed at which the project has progressed: “A lot of these issues on energy get hammered out on a day-to-day basis, as costs are coming in,” Geiger says. Throughout the process, however, China Mobile’s commitment to energy efficiency has carried through; as Geiger puts it, “energy will always be part of the discussion.” Leo A Daly’s portion of the project is expected to open in late 2013.